About Me

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Look, when I'm ordering a rare filet, I don't want to taste the special herbs in which you've coated it, I don't want to taste your chef's magic marinade or spices, I don't want to taste that it's been nearly pickled in butter... I want to taste still-twitching dead cow.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

When Virginia Tech authorities arrived Wednesday night at a cafe inside the Graduate Life Center, they found a decapitated female victim who had arrived on campus just two weeks ago and a young man they have now charged with killing her.

The decapitation makes this a death penalty case.

This case has rekindled the campus concealed carry debate in the comments sections of many of the sources I linked to in my previous post, including some PSH. I encourage any readers I might have to go and contribute.

I'm on my lunch break right now, so I can't really get into this now, but I'll have more after work.

UPDATE:Rough afternoon at work, so I'm not really up to a good commentary right now. Additionally, a comment I heard at work leads me to believe I should hold off on further posts on this issue for a little while. (It has nothing to do with me, the blog itself, or my previous posts. That's all I can say at this point.)

Right now this is breaking news, so these sites are updating frequently with new information. WDBJ7 and The Collegiate Times seem to be ahead of the rest.

A quick summary:According to the news sources, the stabbing took place in the Graduate Student Center (formerly the Donaldson-Brown Hotel and Conference Center) outside the Au bon pain coffee shop, at approximately 7pm. This appears to have been a domestic situation, according to police, and they do have a suspect in custody. The GSC is in lockdown at this time.

Comments on these sites (all but the Tech sites and the Roanoke Times allow comments) show that some people are uneasy, because April 16 started as a "domestic situation" with a "suspect in custody," however, according to the news release on the VT site, police encountered the suspect at the scene, and it appears the attack was witnessed, both completely opposite what happened on the 16th. Both these factors indicate that the situation is truly contained.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Address Gun Violence in Cities: Obama and Biden [...] support closing the gun show loophole and making guns in this country childproof. They also support making the expired federal Assault Weapons Ban permanent.[Emphasis mine.]

(Scroll down to "Crime and Law Enforcement" in the linked page for the full paragraph.)

Honestly, as bad as the situation in some parts of Mexico has gotten, I've been expecting this for a while. Not only have there been a massive number of murders, but many have been brutal, and some have been terrorist-style executions. But what really gets me is this:

"People's reactions are understandable. But this is not the route we should take to solve things," said Andreu Rodriguez, an opposition lawmaker and the head of security issues in Chihuahua's state legislature.

What else are they supposed to do? The government obviously can't protect them, and you won't let them own the weapons they need to protect themselves! The only thing they can do is band together and try to fight on their terms, not the gangs' terms.

"We cannot tolerate the presence of these type of faceless, anonymous groups," said Manuel del Castillo, a spokesman for the state government.

Again, what other options do they have? If they are open in their defiance of the gangs, not only will they become the next victims, but the gangs will likely target their friends and family, too. Plus, they will have to worry about the government arresting them for "vigilanteism" when all they are doing is trying to protect themselves, their families, and their neighborhoods, which is something their government - that would be you Señors del Castillo and Rodriguez - has utterly failed to do.

I may come across here as a fan of vigilante activity. Despite a certain fondness for the old Shadow radio shows, and innumerable comic books, I don't really approve of vigilanteism. I prefer the rule of law and trial by a jury of one's peers. But in this case, the police, the courts, and even the military have shown their inability to protect the citizens they have rendered helpless through disarmament, so I find myself left with the question: